On Thin Ice
by knk4891
Summary: Overwhelmed with facing the upcoming holiday under heartbreaking circumstances, a stressed Jeanette is reaching her breaking point. However, her husband Simon might have a unique way to help cheer her up. A Simonette One-Shot.


**A/N: Some friends and I did a little Secret Santa project amongst ourselves, and I got SimonSeville27! I'm really sorry this is late; I wanted to get it done before Christmas, but thanks to writer's block and laziness, that didn't happen. Better late than never, I suppose.**

**So this is dedicated to Simon; thanks for being such a great friend! I really hope you like this (and everyone else reading as well)! Simonette is a little out of my comfort zone, but this was still fun to write. Merry Christmas**!

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Simon wasn't sure what came first; Jeanette's scream, the smell of burning food, or the high pitched shriek of the fire alarm.

Whichever it was, he instantly stopped typing at the computer and ran out of the little den and into the kitchen. When he arrived, he saw his very distressed-looking wife trying to wave away clouds of black smoke pouring out of the open oven.

"Jeanette!" he yelled as he rushed over to help. After a minute of chaos trying to clear the smoke and turn off the large appliance, the fire alarm was deactivated and the only sounds in the kitchen were the couple's heavy breathing.

Simon looked at his wife, who looked like she had just seen a ghost. Her face was white and her dark hair almost completely loose from its bun. She looked at her husband with wide, terrified eyes.

"I- I don't know how it happened," she squeaked, her voice on the verge of tears. "I p-put the cookies in the oven and I thought I set the timer, and I w-was reading my b-book, and the next thing I knew—"

Jeanette's heavy sobs took over and Simon pulled her close to hold her. He didn't blame her for the outburst; it had been a tough year for the Seville's in their second year of marriage. Simon's medical school bills were always hard to keep up with, and Jeanette had recently taken a part time job at the bookstore in addition to her job at the local library to make a little extra money. Their small, modest home was in constant need of repairs. It felt like everything was breaking down, including them.

However, the most difficult obstacle to overcome was the recent passing of Jeanette's former guardian, Miss Miller. It would be their first Christmas without her, and Jeanette had been working hard to make sure they would have as nice of a holiday as possible despite the circumstances. Unfortunately, that proved to be difficult; since the beginning of the month, Jeanette had accidently shattered a box of glass ornaments, had the Christmas lights she'd spent hours putting up fall down on her, and most recently there was the burning of the cookies, which seemed to be the last straw for her.

"I'm so sorry!" Jeanette wailed, causing Simon to hold her tighter. "I'm sorry about e-everything; the ornaments, the lights—"

"There's no need to apologize," Simon said softly. "You're trying."

He held on tightly to his crying wife, trying to ignore his own breaking heart as he tried to think of how to make this better. Jeanette had been so stressed lately; there had to be something he could do for her. He couldn't even remember the last time he saw her smile. So the wheels in his mind turned; and suddenly, out of nowhere, it came to him.

After a few minutes, Jeanette's sobs came to a gradual halt and Simon said, "Jeanette, do you have ice skates?"

Jeanette slowly pulled back and blinked several times at her husband with watery eyes. "W-what?"

"Ice skates," Simon repeated matter-of-factly. "Do you have a pair?"

Jeanette stared at him, her mouth agape. "N-no."

"We should rent you some skates," Simon told her.

Jeanette continued to stare, obviously confused. "Simon… you know I'm not very good at things like skating. And there are always so many people at the skating rink—"

"We aren't going to the public rink," Simon said. He walked toward the coat rack by the door to get his jacket. "Let's rent you a pair of skates. I doubt any store will be open tomorrow before we leave early in the morning."

Jeanette hadn't moved, still staring at her husband in disbelief. Her eyes shifted toward a nearby window, clearly observing the bright blue sky and the only slightly frosted grass. It was obvious she was thinking there was no way they could skate outside; there was no ice to skate on.

"But… what about the paper you have to do?" she asked. "Why are we getting up early? Where are we going?"

Simon zipped up his thick jacket, feeling an odd mixture of discomfort and excitement at his uncharacteristic spontaneity.

"My paper isn't due for another two weeks," he said. "I'll have time to finish it. As for where we're going…" Simon gave a secretive grin. "Well, you'll just have to wait and see."

Jeanette gave him a small, cautious grin. It wasn't that big wobbly smile he was used to, but it would do for the time being.

"I'll get my coat."

...

The following day, Jeanette found herself shivering in the front seat of the car, despite being wrapped tightly in several layers of clothing. She was still reeling from the fact that she nearly burned the house down the day before and Simon's sudden decision to rent her ice skates, get up at five o'clock in the morning, and drive north for the last four hours. The strangest thing was that Simon wouldn't tell her where they were going, which meant he was trying to surprise her. While she trusted Simon with her whole heart, he wasn't exactly the type of person to surprise people. Jeanette just wasn't sure what to expect.

Neither of them had spoken much on the drive, just listening to a Christmas music radio station at Jeanette's request. She enjoyed observing the icy trees, glittering snow, and slushy roads out the window. The further north they drove, the more it looked like winter.

Simon turned onto a road lined with bare trees. Everywhere she looked, Jeanette saw snow-covered plants sparkling in the sun. It was beautiful and made her wish it looked like this where she and Simon lived.

A few minutes later, Simon pulled the car into a small clearing on the side of the road.

"We're here," he announced, turning off the ignition.

The two got out of the car, and the icy wind took Jeanette's breath away and stung her cheeks.

"It's cold," she said, feeling stupid for stating the obvious.

But Simon only smiled as he pulled their ice skates and a large gym bag out of the trunk. "It's perfect," he replied.

Jeanette returned his smile as he handed her the scuffed white skates she had rented the day before. The two began to walk down a narrow, snow covered path. Jeanette guessed this was some type of public park, yet they were the only people around.

Neither of them said much as they walked, the only sounds being the whisper of the wind and their heavy boots crunching the snow. After Jeanette had gotten over the shock of the cold, she quickly learned to appreciate the fresh air. She loved how the sunlight hit the icicles on the trees and how quiet it was; it felt like she and Simon were the only two people in the world. She had just been thinking that when she felt a soft, gloved hand grab hers. Her heart skipped a happy beat as she squeezed Simon's hand back.

Finally, the two were out of the woods and came to a frozen pond. So this was the place Simon had in mind. Jeanette held back a sigh as she looked at the shiny, perfect ice and instantly dreaded that soon she would be slipping and falling all over it.

"Dave used to take Alvin, Theodore, and I up here when we were children," Simon explained. "Dave came here when he was younger too, and apparently not many people know it's around." He looked at Jeanette. "I know this isn't the first activity you'd choose for us to do, but I thought it might be fun."

Jeanette tried to smile, even though ice skating sounded like one of the most painful things on Earth to her. But she was touched that Simon was willing to share a piece of his childhood with her and she was in love with the Winter Wonderland environment. There was no way she wasn't going to lace up those skates.

Minutes later, the couple stood holding hands at the edge of the pond. Jeanette looked down at her slightly too large skates and took a deep breath of frosty air.

"I don't think I've ice skated since I was eleven," she said nervously.

"Just try to relax," Simon told her. He grinned. "Who knows? Perhaps you've gained the grace of a professional figure skater now."

Jeanette rolled her eyes and giggled. "I highly doubt that, Simon."

Simon chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Well let's find out."

Needless to say, Jeanette had not gained the grace of a professional figure skater; or even a little league hockey player for that matter. She slipped, she tripped, she stumbled, she fell. Within minutes, her backside was sore, her knees were bruised, and legs were numb from being on the ice so much. Her hat was crooked, her hair was a tangled mess, and the lenses in her glasses kept fogging up. She felt like a ragdoll each time she fell in bizarre positions and she was exhausted from constantly falling down and getting back up.

Yet it was the most fun she had fun in ages.

She and Simon were laughing the entire time, often to the point of tears. Each fall was like a hilarious joke, and they found themselves keeping track of how many times Jeanette fell on each body part (her bottom came in first place, as she landed on it an impressive fourteen times). Oddly enough, Jeanette wasn't embarrassed about her clumsiness at all; she embraced the fact that Simon was so amused by her falling, and her heart would melt a little when she asked her if she was all right every single time.

Another entertaining aspect of the skating was how unexpectedly wonderful of a skater Simon was. He was usually only slightly more coordinated than his wife while doing almost any other activity, but on the ice, Jeanette was amazed by his grace and speed. It was such a pleasant surprise to see her husband's hidden talent.

After taking a slow lap around the pond (Simon held on to Jeanette so she didn't fall), Simon checked his water-proof wristwatch and announced the two had been skating for nearly three hours.

"It's been that long?" Jeanette asked. The time had flown by; she was amazed.

"It has," Simon confirmed. "Maybe we should take a little break."

Jeanette agreed and they grabbed the gym bag before sitting on a small brown bench nearby. It was barely big enough for both of them, but Jeanette didn't mind being snuggled up to Simon at all.

Simon pulled out two thermoses full of hot chocolate and the couple sipped the hot liquid slowly to avoid burning their tongues.

"I had no idea you were such a great skater," Jeanette said.

Simon laughed. "Well, thanks to all those hockey matches Alvin started when we played here and teaching Theodore how to make the perfect figure eight, I've had a lot of practice."

Jeanette sighed and rested her head on Simon's shoulder. Simon talking about his childhood memories made her think of Miss Miller which brought back that sad little pang in her heart.

She felt Simon gently rest his cheek on the top of her head. "I love you, Jeanette."

"I love you too, Simon," Jeanette replied. She closed her eyes as she felt a cold wind tickle her rosy cheeks. "Thank you so much for this. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun."

Simon leaned down to kiss Jeanette's forehead the same time she had lifted her head up to kiss him.

"OUCH!"

Simon clutched his nose and Jeanette gasped and put her mitten-covered hand over her mouth.

"Omigosh, Simon! I am so sorry!" This had happened to them many times before, but Jeanette couldn't help but feel bad about it every time.

But Simon only chuckled as he leaned over again and pressed his lips to Jeanette's. "I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world, you know."

Jeanette felt a blush on her cheeks and gave him the biggest grin she had given in months. "So," she giggled. "Ready for a few more laps?"

"Of course!"

Simon and Jeanette put their thermoses away and headed back toward the pond where they laughed, kissed, and fell down until dusk.

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**A/N: I don't think the weather in California changes so dramatically if you just drive north for a few hours, but it does for this story! Hope you guys liked it!**


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